An ambitious plan to build a massive solar farm in remote northern Australia that would transmit energy by submarine cable to Singapore is a step closer after the Australian government gave environmental approvals for the 30 billion Australian dollar ($19 billion).

Australian company Sun Cable plans to build a 12,400-hectare solar farm and transport electricity to the northern Australian city of Darwin via an 800-km overhead transmission line, then on to large-scale industrial customers in Singapore through a 4,300-km submarine cable.